Stocking drier and stretcher



J. P. BLACKMAN Y STOCKING DRIER AND STRETCHER Filed April 20, 1935 Dec.l, 1936.

ATTORNEYS IIIIIITZ lill llll Il Irunlnn |f...||||' Patented Dec. 1, 1936UNITED `STATES STOCKING DRIER AND STRETCHER Joseph Paul Blackman,Fairfield, Conn., assigner of one-half to Edward F. Hurd, Bridgeport,

Conn.

Application April 20, 1935, Serial No.`17,484

14 Claims. (Cl. 223-77) 'I'his invention relates to new and usefulimprovements in a stocking drier and stretcher, and has for an object toprovide a means adapted to hold any size of stocking in proper shape fordrying so as to prevent the stocking getting out of shape and also, ifdesired, maintain the stocking stretched so as to prevent it fromshrinking.

Another object is to provide f a stocking stretcher and drier includingy adjustments whereby it is adapted for use in the drying of varioussizes of stockings, the said stretcher and drier having independentsimple adjustments so as to properly take care of various foot, ankleand calf sizes of stockings.

Other objects and advantages will become ap-' parent from aconsideration of the following detailed description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawing wherein a satisfactory embodiment of theinvention is shown.

However, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to thedetails disclosed but includes all such variations and modifications asfall within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appendedclaims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side view showing the manner of applying the device to astocking, the latter being shown in section in full lines and thevarious dotted lines showing some of the adjustments which may be madeso as to have the device stretch the stocking as desired or to tdifferent sizes of socks o-r stockings;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view looking at the stretcher and drier fromthe right in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional View taken substantiallyalong the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a similar view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig.2;

Fig. 5 is a similar view taken substantially along the line 5 5 of Fig.2;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail sectional View taken substantially alongthe line 6 6 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 7 is a similar View taken substantially along the line 'I-1 of Fig.2.

As here disclosed the improved drier and stretcher comprises front andrear transversely flat tubular leg members I0 and II of which the formercomprises a calf portion I2 and an ankle portion I3 and it will be notedthat the lower end portion I4 of said member, beginning at the ankleportion thereof, in addition to extending downwardly is curvedforwardly. The rear leg member II comprises a calf portion I5, an ankleportion I6 and below such portion the member is curved providing a heelportion Il the free end portion I8 of which is turned up slightly for apurpose to be described.

A flexible piece I9, such for example as fiat corset steel, has one endportion 2@ (see Fig. '7) 5 secured in the lower free end portion I8 ofthe leg member II and such flexible piece is then inserted through thelower end of the front leg piece I0 and is carried upwardly entirelytherel through and has its other end portion 2l (see 10 Figs. 6 and 7)inserted into the rear leg member II through the open upper end thereof.Between the lower ends of the members I@ and II the piece I9 forms aloop 22 and between the upper ends of said members the piece forms a 15loop 23.

The piece I9 is preferably of exible spring metal, and is slidablethrough the front leg member I0 and is slidable in the upper portion ofthe rear leg member II so that the piece may be 20 moved through themember IB and more or less of the piece may be inserted into andwithdrawn from the member II in the making of adjustments as will laterappear. If desired, the leg members I0 and II may be round and the piece25 I9 may also be of round stock. However, it is preferred that thetubular leg members be transversely at, and that the member I9 be offlat stock as shown since if round stock is used in place of the piece I9 and round tubes in place 30 of the at tubes shown there will be atendency of the device to turn laterally out of its plane. The members I0 and II may be flat seamless tubes or they may be formed of sheet metalfolded up to proper shape with longitudinal side edges preferably on theinside as shown at il.`

Disposed at the inner sides of and secured t0 the front and rear legmembers I0 and Il are at tubular guide members 24 and 25 respectively.The guides 24 and 25 may be secured to the mem- 40 bers Ill and II inany suitable manner and by any suitable means as for example by solderas shown at 26. Said guides have their lower end portions 21 and 28curved to extend toward one another as best shown in Fig. land withinthe 45 curved lower end portion 28 of the guide 25 there is secured oneend 29 of a flexible piece 30. (See Fig. 6). Such flexible piece 30 ispreferably of the same material as piece I9 and is carried up entirelythrough the guide 24 and has its free end 50 3| inserted into the guide25 through the upper end thereof. Between the upper ends of the guidesthe piece 30 forms a loop 32 and its portion between the curved lowerends of the guides is designated 33. 55

From the foregoing description it will be understood that the end 29 ofthe flexible piece I9 may be secured in the rear leg member II in anydesired manner. As shown, the end piece is secured by pinching inportions of the member II as shown at 34 in Fig. 7. The end of theflexible piece is secured in the curved portion 2B of the guide 25 in asimilar manner, portions of said guide being pressed or pinched inwardlyagainst the end 29 of the piece as shown at 35. It should also beunderstood that while the flexible piece I9 is slidable through thefront leg member IIJ and into and from the upper end portion of the legmember II, the exible piece 3D is slidable through the guide 24 and itsfree end portion is slidable in and out of the upper end portion of theguide 25. Further, while it is preferred that the front and rear legmembers and the guides be in the form of at tubes they need not be inthe form of split tubes as shown but may be seamless or may have theiredges secured together.

The .device is particularly adapted for use when drying woolen stockingsat which time it will serve to maintain a stocking in the .requiredshape so that it may be dried without shrinking. In the drawing astocking is indicated at 36 and includes a foot portion 31 and a legportion 38. When the present device is to be used for drying thestocking exible piece I9 is drawn upwardly through the front leg memberI0 so that the lower or foot shaped loop 22 of said piece is relativelysmall as indicated by its ldotted line position 22a in Fig. 1. As thepiece I9 is drawn upwardly through the member IIJ its free end portionmay be further inserted into the member I I so that the size o-f itsupper loop 23 is not increased.

If the stocking to be dried is quite small, then the piece 3| is drawnupwardly through the guide 24 so as to as far as possible reduce thedistance between the ends of the curved portions 21 and 28 oi' theguides, and since the guides are attached to the members IU and II suchadjusting of the piece 3B will result in the ankle portions of saidmembers being drawn toward one another. Tokeep low the distance betweenthe calf portions of the members I0 and I I the loop 32 of the piece 3Dmust be kept small and therefore as such piece is drawn upwardly throughthe guide 24 additional portions of the piece are inserted into theguide 25.

Assuming that all of the parts of the device, with the exception of thefoot loop 22 of the piece I9, are in the full line positions of Fig. l

and that such foot loop is in the position of the dotted line 22a thenthe device may be easily inserted into the stocking preferably until theheel portion I'I of the device engages the heel of y the stocking.Thereafter a portion of the piece I9 is drawn out of the upper end ofthe member I I and additional quantities of said piece are feddownwardly through the member III so as to form the foot-shaped loop 22.The piece is fed as described until the loop 22 is of the desired sizecompletely filling the foot 3l of the stocking in a manner to stretchthe same and maintain it in the proper shape. Owing to the fact that thefree end portion I8 of the heel I'I is bent upwardly as described theportion of the piece I9 forming the foot shaped loop 22 takes a shapewith its under or lower arm arched as at 39.

Either after or before the piece I9 has been fed downwardly through themember I0 so as to Y have the foot-shaped loop 22 of the desired sizethe flexible piece 30 may be manipulated so as to shift the members I0and II relatively so as to have such members properly t or stretch theankle and calf portion of the stocking. To adjust such members to alarger ankle size of stocking the piece 30 is fed or forced downwardlythrough the guide 24 so as to increase the size of its loop 33 as tobring such loop into the dotted line position 33a. Obviously, thisforces apart the ankle portions I3 and I6 of the members I0 and II asshown by the dotted lines and if the size of the upper loop 32 of thepiece 30 is kept the same there will be no increase in the calf size forwhich the members II] and I I are set.

If the calf size is to be varied it may be increased by increasing thesize of the loop 23 so as to have that loop of a size indicated by adotted lline 23a and by then increasing the size of the loop 32 as tothat indicated by the dotted lines 32m. The calf size may be reduced byreducing the size of the loop 23 as to the size indicated by the dottedlines 23h. Beyond certain limits variations in the calf sizes must betaken care of by adjusting the sizes of the loops 23 and 32 althoughwithin limits varying the size of either loop will vary the distancebetween the upper portions of the members I0 and II. It will beunderstood that the sizes of the loops 23 and 32 are adjusted byinserting the free end portions of the pieces I9 and 3D more or lessinto the member I I and the guide 25 respectively.

For a very large stocking the parts may be adjusted to hold suchstocking in the proper shape and the parts may also be adjusted so thatthe device will hold a small stocking in shape. It

will, therefore, be appreciated that the one device is capable of takingcare of all sizes of stockings and that it is not necessary to have adifferent pair of devices for each size of stocking. The dotted lines22h indicate a substantial increase in the size of the foot loop beyondthat shown by the full lines and give some idea of the wide range ofadjustments which may be made.

With the disclosed means adjustments may be made to exact sizes sincethe adjustments are not made step by step. Further, the adjustments arenot dependent on one another and may be made independent of one anotherso as to give the best results. That is, the foot loop may be eX- pandedto the desired size without respect to the ankle size or calf size andby adjusting the width of the loop 33 the ankle size may be regulatedwithout respect to the calf or foot size and by adjusting either or bothof the loops 23 and 32 the calf size may be adjusted without respect tothe ankle or foot size. For insertion into and removal from a stockingthe device may be readily adjusted to small or if desired to itssmallest dimensions so that there will be no diculty in the use of thedevice. In this connection it will be understood that to reduce the sizeof loop 22 the piece is drawn upwardly through the front leg member IU.To reduce the ankle size the piece 3i) is drawn up through the guide 24and to reduce the calf size the loops 23 and 32 are reduced as byfeeding the pieces I9 and 3B into the member I I and guide 25respectively.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a stocking drier and stretcher, front and rear tubular leg membersof which the former comprises a calf and ankle piece while the lattercomprises a calf, ankle and heel piece, a flexible resilient pieceextending out of the lower end of one of said members and into the otherthrough the lower end thereof to form a flexible resilient loop, andsaid flexible piece being slidable in one of said members independentlyof the other member to form foot shaped loops of different sizes.

2. In a stocking drier and stretcher, front and rear tubular memberseach having its lower end portion curved forwardly, a flexible resilientpiece extending between the lower ends of said members and having itsend portions disposed in said members to form a flexible resilient loopbetween them, and said piece being frictionally slidable in one of saidmembers independently of the other member to form foot shaped loops ofdifferent sizes.

3. In a stocking drier and stretcher, front and rear tubular members ofwhich the former comprises a calf and ankle piece while the lattercomprises a calf, ankle and heel piece, said front piece having itslower end curved forwardly, a fiexible resilient piece extending betweenthe lower ends of said members and having its end portions disposed insaid members, said piece being slidable in one of the members so that itis adapted to be fed out of the lower end of said member to form a footshaped loop of the desired size, and said rear member having the freeend portion of its heel piece bent slightly upwardly so as to bend theexi'ble piece forming the foot shaped loop and because of its resiliencycurve, the portion immediately forwardly of the heel to form an arch.

4. In a stocking drier and stretcher, front and rear leg members eachcomprising a calf and an ankle portion, a flexible piece extendingbetween the lower ends of said members and adjustable with respect toone of them to form a foot shaped loop of the desired size, and separatemeans between and connecting said members above said footloop adjustableto vary the distance between their ankle portions.

5. In a stocking drier and stretcher, front and rea-r leg members eachcomprising a calf and an ankle portion, a exible piece extending betweenthe lower ends of said members and adjustable with respect to one ofthem to form a foot shaped loop of the desired size, and separate m'eansconnecting said members above the footloop and adjustable to vary thedistance between their calf portions.

6. In a stocking drier and stretcher, front and rear leg members eachcomprising a calf and an ankle portion, a flexible piece extendingbetween the lower ends of said members and adjustable with respect toone of them to form a foot shaped loop of the desired size, and separatemeans connecting said members above the footloop and adjustable toindependently vary the distances between the ankle portions and betweenthe calf portions of said members.

7. In a stocking drier and stretcher, first and second tubular members,a flexible piece having an end secured in the second of said members,said piece extending through the first of said members from the lowerend thereof and having its other end disposed in the upper `portion ofthe second of said members, said piece withdrawable from the upper endof the second member to increase the distance between the upper ends ofsaid members, and said piece shiftable down through the first member toform a foot shaped loop at the lower ends of said members.

8. In a stocking drier and stretcher, first and second tubular members,a flexible piece having an end secured in the second of said members,said piece extending through the first of said members from the lowerend thereof and having its other end disposed in the upper portion ofthe second of said members, and said piece withdrawable from the upperend of the second member to increase the distance between the upper endsor said members.

9. In a stocking drier and stretcher, first and second tubular members,a exible resilient piece having an end secured in the second of saidmembers, said piece extending through and frictionally slidable in thefirst of said members from the lower end thereof to form a exib-ieresilient loop between the members, and said piece being shiftable downthrough the first member to form and adjust a foot shaped loop at thelower ends of said members.

10. In a stocking drier and stretcher, front and rear leg members eachcomprising a calf and an ankle portion, a flexible resilient pieceextending between the lower ends of said members and adjustable withrespect to one of them to form a foot shaped loop of the desired size,tubular guides on said members, a flexible resilient piece having an endsecured in the rst of said guides, said piece extending through thesecond of said guides from the lower end thereof and having its otherend disposed in the upper portion of the first guide, said piecewithdrawable from the upper end of the first guide to increase thedistance between the upper ends of said members, and said pieceshiftable down through the second guide to increase the distance betweenthe lower portions of said members.

1l. In a stocking drier and stretcher, front and rear leg members eachcomprising a calf 'and an ankle portion, a ilexible resilient pieceextending between the lower ends of said members and adr. justable withrespect to one of them to form a foot shaped loop of the desired size,tubular guides on said members, a flexible resilient piece having an endsecured in the first of said guides, said piece extending through thesecond of said guides from the lower end thereof and having its other'end disposed in the upper portion of the first guide, and' said piecewithdrawable from the upper end of the first guide to increase thedistance between the upper ends of said members.

12. In a stocking drier and stretcher, front and rear leg members eachcomprising a calf and an ankle portion, a flexible resilient pieceextending between the lower ends of said members and adjustable withrespect to one oi them to form a foot shaped loop of the desired size,tubular guides on said members, a flexible piece having an end securedin the first of said guides, said piece extending through the second ofsaid guides from the lower end thereof, and said piece shiftable downthrough the second guideto increase the distance between the lowerportions of said members.

13. In a stocking drier and stretcher, first yand second tubularmembers, a flexible resilient piece having an end secured in the secondof said members, said piece extending through the rst of said membersfrom the lower end thereof and having its other end disposed in theupper portion of the second of said members, said piece withdrawablefrom the upper end of the second member to increase the distance betweenthe'upper ends of said members, said piece shiftable' down through thefirst member to form a foot shaped loop at the lower ends of saidmembers, tubular guides on said members, a flexible piece having an endsecured in the first of said guides, said piece extending through thesecond of said guides from the lower end thereof and having its otherend disposed in the upper portion of the first guide, said piecewithdrawable from the upper end of the first guide to increase thedistance between the upper ends of said members, and said pieceshiftable down through the second guide to increase the distance betweenthe lower portions of said members.

14. In a stocking drier and stretcher, a pair of tubular members formingfront and rear leg members, a exibleresilient member extending betweenthe lower ends of said tubular members to form a foot loop andirictionally slidable in one of said members to adjust the size of theloop, and a separate connection between the tubular members above thefoot loop and adjustable to vary the distance between said members.

JOSEPH PAUL BLACKMAN.

